Removing Spray Paint

[Matt Haugen]

I was just wasting time on ebay and I came across an old Gibson banner head that someone decided to 'spiff up' with some black spray paint. Here is the link I will also attach a couple pics since you might not want to go to ebay to look.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-L-50-Acoustic-Archtop-Project-Guitar...

I was wondering what, if anything might be used to remove just the spray paint? Has anyone taken on a project like this before?

Thanks all.

[Mark Pollock]

I'm guessing a really really careful scraping with a razor blade or glass slide, but that paint will be in any crack and impossible to get out, I suspect -

On that guitar (which feels really overpriced to me), I would assume that a full strip-down, repair, and refinish would be the best option - it's not like it needs to be preserved at this point.

[Matt Haugen]

Thanks Mark, I would agree on the price. I haven't purchased on guitar on ebay in over a year because any I would consider are going for far greater amounts then I would be willing to pay.

[Ned Knepp]

Before I attacked it with a scraper, I think I would try to use an artist paint brush and paint thinner, applied very carefully to see if the black paint could be removed. The catch is that this process would leave the rest of the face plate which seems to me to be the greater problem.  I agree with both of you that the price seems pretty high give the amount of work that would be required to rebuild this guitar. Sounds pretty good though.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I'm afraid that "plays okay" is a kind of an hazardous assumption, since the tuners' buttons are melted down and the strings are rotted.

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Matt.

Given the overall condition of the existing factory finish and the extensive repair work that's needed, I think it would be an exercise in futility to try to remove the spray paint & restore the factory finish.

I'm with Mark P. on the complete refin.  Here's why: 

The original finish is destroyed or disturbed beyond reasonable economic repair.  A complete refin will be less time consuming than spot fills & color matching. 

Also, these are not high $$$ instruments even in near mint condition so there is no $$$ benefit to restoring the original finish.

With a repaired finish, you'll have a nice sounding ugly guitar.  With a refin, you'll have a great looking nice sounding instrument.

And +1 on the price being a couple hundred too high for the condition of the instrument.

Best of luck Matt (-:

[Richard Bales]

Depends a lot on what kind of spray paint was used, what the original finish was and how well the spray paint bonded.  There's a good chance that the spray can be removed, since the original finish was probably dirty so bonding of the spray will not be great.

I would start with some ammonia water - the clear kind.  A bit on a pad with some gentle rubbing on small spots at a time.  Stop if you find you are removing the original finish, and try again with diluted ammonia.

If the ammonia has little effect it's going to be a lot more difficult to do.  I would try some alcohol next.  Same process.  If still no success you may have to dab on some  lacquer thinner - just dampen the spray with it, let it sit for 30 seconds or so, then repeat the ammonia process.

This can be a very time consuming process - expect to spend many hours working small bits at a time.  Probably will be expensive beyond the value of the instrument though.